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1st Lt. Harry Pomles
Squadron Navigator 846th SQ
489th Bomb Group
2nd Division
8th Air Force
USAAF
KIA July 24, 1944
I never knew him. Six weeks after I was born in March, 1943 he graduated from the Navigator School at SelmanField, LA and after a short leave to meet his new baby he reported for duty to fly anti-submarine patrol between Newfoundland (or maybe it was Nova Scotia) and Bermuda. The 489th BG (they flew B24's) was formed early that fall and he was one of the original members.
After 6 months of training the Group left Wendover Field, Utah for England via a very circuitous route that took them to Florida, South America, North Africa, Ireland, Wales and then to England where they were assigned to Holton Airfield near Halesworth in Suffolk. He was the navigator on the last plane out of Wendover which was piloted by the Group's executive officer, future Medal of Honor winner Lt. Col. Leon Vance. Their job was to help any stragglers and crews that got lost. They arrived a few days after the majority of the Group. All non flying personnel were transported to England by ship.
Shortly after arrival he was appointed Squadron Navigator for the 846th SQ. His job was to fly with the Sq. CO and to make sure that every 846th plane in the mission had a navigator. On July 24, 1944 he was scheduled to fly a mission later that day but one of his navigators was grounded by the flight surgeon just before the early mission so he volunteered to fly it himself. A good friend of his was the pilot and he was flying his first time as lead pilot in the lead plane. During this time their missions were flying tactical bombing missions on the Cherbourg peninsula in support of allied ground troops rather than their usual strategical bombing missions. The missions didn't take long and they were flying several of them each day. Most of the Group's planes were up there for the first mission of the day and every crew member in air from the 489th saw what happened. The lead plane suffered a direct hit from Nazi anti aircraft guns and spiraled down to explode in flames.
Only one man (the radio operator) was able to ditch the plane before it exploded and he landed behind German lines and had to evade enemy troops and find his way back to the US troops. I had a letter that man wrote to my mother a few weeks later, he wrote to the families of all the crew members. I donated that letter to the 489th Museum that is now at what used to be Holton Airfield.
He was my father and was 26 when he was KIA. He was Sq Navigator for the 846th Sq. The navigator on that plane was grounded by the flight surgeon that day. Since he was supposed to train a new navigator my father decided to fly the mission and train the new navigator himself since training was part of his duties as Sq Navigator. The planes were B24's and instead of a bomb run that day they were dropping supplies to the troops getting ready to storm St Lo. My maternal grandfather told me much of this and men from the 489th BG I met at reunions confirmed it and gave me more details. He will always be my hero, he didn't have to fly that day. I will always wonder if they were flying a bit faster or slower or a bit higher or lower would that plane have been hit by the antiaircraft gun that shot them down. The men at the reunions told me it was a direct hit. I am 80 yrs. old now and I'm hoping I'll meet him after I die.